Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Larina and the plot. The rest belongs to Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, who is a genius.

LARINA:

Larina was still in a state of shock. It was half a week, and many preparations later, and she was still trying to convince herself that Caryn and Aubrey had been joking. Apparently, they had not been.

Even Adianna was caught up in the preparations for the wedding. Despite the circumstances, and her extreme dislike of vampires in general, and her hate of Nikolas, Adianna's only daughter was getting married, so Adianna threw herself whole-heartedly into the preparations.

Larina, however, was not jazzed about the marriage—when she finally realized that there was nothing she could do to prevent it from taking place.

Forget love—Larina couldn't even tolerate her husband-to-be. He was a vampire—and if that wasn't enough, he was unduly cruel, had no scruples, annoying, and, most of all, he frightened her. Larina couldn't remember being as frightened in her entire life of fighting vampires, as she had been the second Nikolas looked at her. She couldn't even look into his eyes without flinching away. There was no getting around it—Vida or no Vida, she was not brave. She was not her mother and she was not her sisters. She couldn't do this.

So why was she now standing in an uncomfortable gown, being married, elemented, and blood bonded to a man she couldn't stand?

The dress was uncomfortable enough, and, despite all of Larina's protests, it was white. Larina had stated that, bride or not, she was in mourning, but Adianna said that no bride could be married in black, and that was that.

The gown was a startling snow-white, with a sweetheart neckline, simplistic in its beauty. Delicate flower designs were sown into the bodice, and a simple veil covered Larina's hair. Although the gown was a shocking white, it appeared cream before the ivory of her pale, extremely frightened face.

Only Larina and Nikolas' closest friends attended. No one was really sure how the ceremony would go. Both Larina and Nikolas knew that they would have to keep up a facade of love once married. For vampires, marriage was rare—so it was always sacred, and the couple was always deeply in love. For witches, it was much the same.

First came the easy part—the actual marriage ceremony. The only hard part of this was the kissing.

Her face blank, and she seemed in a trance. She was awoken at the feel of someone's—Nikolas'—hand cupping her cheek and turning her face towards him. Her breath caught and she lowered her eyes, so as to not have to look into the deep deadness that threatened to overwhelm her.

His lips grazed her own, and she was reeling. No human's kiss had ever affected her so deeply. Her knees felt watery, and she struggled to stand. His lips were back, kissing her properly now, covering her own lips tenderly, gently. Before the kiss went too far, he pulled back. Still reeling, Larina managed to stay upright.

Next was the elemental part—it was really rather simple. Element was the interweaving of minds—designed specially, in this case, to give Larina the advantage—Nikolas would never be able to use the blood bond to control her. He would have other advantages, but, even with the blood bond in place, he wouldn't be able to control her as he would other blood-bonded humans.

It was this blood bonding that she really feared. She held perfectly still as Nikolas' fangs pierced the side of her neck. No vampire had ever fed off of Larina before, and it made her very nervous… until the painful pleasure arrived, fading out all other feelings.

Nikolas drew back, Larina stumbled, and Nikolas caught her gracefully. Pushing herself to her own feet, Larina drew back. Nikolas made a small cut on the side of his own neck. Blood welled in a pool there…

Weak from blood loss, and tempted by the blood being shown to her, Larina swayed gently. Nikolas touched his own blood to his finger and spread it over her lips. (A/N: Hee, hee)

Larina closed her eyes and tried to hold back the sound of despair that welled inside of her. She couldn't do this; it was too much. The sound broke free, the cry of despair and fear ringing through the air.

Nikolas pulled her closer. Larina could smell the blood…so tempting…closing her eyes, Larina made a small sound of resigned despair as she gave into temptation. The blood flowed through her, bittersweet. It was like breathing for the first time.

Before she could enjoy herself too much, Larina shoved herself away. Her skin was even paler than usual, except for the pink flush that stained her cheeks as silent tears poured from her eyes.

Adianna, Aubrey, Christopher, Sarah, and Caryn escorted the silent couple home.

Once at her new 'home', Larina dashed upstairs to the bathroom, pulled on her normal clothes, washed her face, and sat down on the edge of the bathtub, waiting for the tears to end.

An hour later, Larina walked down the stairs. Everyone was still there, waiting for her. Seeing her face, Christopher, Sarah, Aubrey, and Caryn said their congratulations, and left quickly after. Adianna hung around awhile, but she too soon departed.

"I'm sorry, Larina," Adianna whispered as she embraced her daughter.

"How was I chosen, Mother? How am I connected to the vampires?"

Adianna sighed. "When Sarah was dying, I tried to save her. I didn't want her to become a vampire, so I tried to take the vampire blood from her, regardless of what it might do to me. Once before, that situation had happened, and the vampire blood had been passed down generations. I suppose, that's what happened to you." Adianna looked sad.

"Did Reline and Vivara have it, too?" Larina asked.

Adianna shook her head. "I don't know why or how, but they didn't." Giving her daughter another hug, Adianna left the house. Larina could feel her presence fade from view.

There were several minutes of silence. Nikolas lounged on a black couch, appearing perfectly at ease, and sinisterly handsome. Larina stood straight as a rod, her back to a wall, her eyes darting between Nikolas, the door, and the windows—her enemy/husband, and her escape route.

You think you'd get very far? There was no mistaking that quietly deadly, seductive voice, with a hint of southern charm.

Get out of my head!

He laughed softly.

Just because you're married to me gives you no excuse for being rude.

You could look, if you wanted to. Whatever Larina had expected as a response, this was not it.

What?

You could see into minds, if you wanted to.

Disgusted, Larina wheeled around, to stalk out of the room, before realizing that she had nowhere to stalk to. "Umm… where's my bedroom?"

"Your bedroom?" Nikolas asked, stretching lazily. The position of his body drew his tight black shirt across his chest, outlining his magnificent torso. "Our bedroom, dearest wife, is up the stairs and to the left."

"Our…? Our…. bedroom?" Larina whispered.

"Of course our bedroom, wife," Nikolas said, his voice amused. Larina couldn't bring herself to look at his face. "Did you think that we'd sleep in different rooms? We're married, remember."

As if I could forget. Larina couldn't move. She couldn't look at him. The man she was tied to for the rest of her life, and she couldn't even look at him. She sensed rather than saw him step forward and she flinched back.

She could immediately sense his anger. Flinching had been a bad move. She knew that any predator took retreat as a sign of weakness, and would dive in for the kill. She couldn't be the prey. She wouldn't be the prey.

Standing up straight, Larina looked Nikolas straight in the eyes. Bad move. His soulless eyes flashed in anger, and… something else? He was moving closer, those terrible eyes still locked with hers. Larina couldn't breathe… he was coming closer…

Suddenly, there were scant inches in between them. Larina still couldn't tear her gaze away from his.

Without looking away from her, Nikolas lowered his mouth to hers. Larina felt her body respond automatically. Her knees went wobbly and her breath caught in her throat. She could feel his tongue request entrance to her mouth and she could do nothing to stop him. Nikolas seemed to sense her knees buckling, because he slid his arms around her and held her tight to him.

She had to move… had to…

Larina tore her mouth away, practically shoving herself into a wall. Her breath came hard, and she couldn't stand straight. Avoiding Nikolas' eyes, she whispered,

"I'll go prepare for bed, then," before dashing from the room as fast as her legs could carry her.

Thankfully for Larina, Nikolas did not come to bed until very late that night. She could feel the bed creak slightly as he lay down, felt his arms slide around her, pulling her close. Her body tensed immediately, but after nothing happened, she slowly relaxed into an uneasy sleep.